Electoral Violence and the Challenge of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

Abstract

Elections are the hallmarks of democracy; they also serve the purpose of peaceful change in government and confer political legitimacy on the government. Viewed from this prism, elections represent the expression of the sovereign will of the people. However, the conduct of elections in a plural society like Nigeria is often fraught with animosities and violence. Failing is the process to satisfy the test of popular participation and legitimacy. At the core of this bitter contest is the struggle for power by factional elite groups perceived as representing ethno religious and regional interest. Electoral seasons more than anytime else reveals the fragility and soft underbelly of the Nigerian state. The country’s electoral history is replete with narratives of flawed and disputed elections that have turned violent, resulting in numerous fatalities and reversing previous attempts at democratic consolidation. The 2015 general election was unprecedented in the annals of the country because for the first time an entrenched and incumbent party was defeated at the polls, and the country witnessed a peaceful alternation of power between contending political parties thereby fulfilling one of the preconditions for democratic consolidation. A tensed pre-election political atmosphere occasioned by the activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, that then controlled a large swath of Nigeria’s territory and a fragmented elite divided along ethno-religious and regional lines foreshadowed the election. Shuttle diplomacy by the United States secretary of state and the constitution of body called ‘National Peace Committee’ comprised of Kofi Anan, the immediate past secretary general of the United Nations, past presidents of Nigeria and leading clergymen and the postponement of the election date by six weeks before the electoral management body could deliver an election whose outcome was accepted by the contending political parties and averting the prediction of an apocalyptic endgame. This study seeks to engage the factors that make conduct of elections in Nigeria to be violent prone and undermine attempts at institutionalising a democratic tradition. The methodology is qualitative in approach, relying on secondary data from books, journal articles and newspaper commentaries.

Political party elite and election-related violence in Nigeria: The nexus and implications for democracy and governance

“…Election remains an important apparatus that helps to shape peaceful transition of political regimes in every democratic state the world over. It is a mechanism through which representatives and political leaders are chosen lawfully by the people (Ashindorbe, 2018). In other words, election gives the people the power to speak through their votes.…”

“…Democracy affords the citizens the opportunity to choose their political leaders freely and peacefully without threats, fear and intimidation during national, state or local elections (Adesote & Abimbola, 2014;Ashindorbe, 2018;Ebiziem, 2015). However, elections in most democratic nations across the world in the contemporary time, are marred by violence (Besaw, 2021;FDFA Report, 2018).…”

“…Political candidates and their friends, relatives and major supporters, electoral officials, electoral management body (EMB) offices and materials, election observers, party agents, media personnel, voters, and other electoral stakeholders are the main targets of electoral violence. Election-related violence involves burning of campaign vehicles, party secretariat, candidate's property, snatching of ballot boxes, physical assaults, and, possibly murder of opponents' family members or loyalists (Adesote & Abimbola, 2014;Ashindorbe, 2018).…”

Hate Speech and Election Violence in Nigeria

“…Research has attributed the causes of election violence to a number of factors: exclusionary politics, the high cost of losing an election, electoral malpractice and the weak institutionalization of democratic architectures, especially political parties, election management bodies and the judiciary (Aiyede, 2007;Aremu and Omotola, 2007;Basedau et al, 2007;Bekoe, 2012;Birch and Muchlinski, 2018;Bob-Millar, 2014;Hanne and Höglund, 2016;Höglund, 2009;Lehoucq, 2003;Nwolise, 2007). The elites' quest to capture or retain political power is also a major driver of election violence in Africa (Amankwaah, 2013;Ashindorbe, 2018). Although 'a growing literature explores the causes and consequences of electoral contention and violence' (Daxecker, 2019: 1), research has not yet established the link between elections and violence.…”

Separatist Threat, Militarization and Voter Turnout: Exploring the Dynamics of the 2017 Governorship Election in Anambra State, Nigeria

“…The return to multiparty politics and electoral democracy in Nigeria in 1999 was viewed as a positive step towards democratization after decades of military rule. Elections are often seen as an important aspect of democracy that serve the purpose of peaceful change of government and confer political legitimacy on the government in question (Ashindorbe, 2018). Viewed from this perspective, elections putatively represent the expression of the sovereign will of the people.…”